French Potato Salad

My husband has returned back to his job, but I have two more wonderful weeks of vacation. We managed to get to Cambria, California where we spent a wonderful day having lunch, visiting the ocean (which is very windy) and reconnecting as a married couple again. It's amazing how busy we get when we are both working!

I took a lot of photographs of the gardens in Cambria... so many, that I need to edit and decide which ones I should share with all of you.

In the meantime, I'm finding my way back into my kitchen. Most of last week, we spent dining out-- which is highly unusual for us. We even played "tourist" in Cannery Row (though I bumped into someone I work with). We had a wonderful dinner at John Pisto's Whaling Station. (I didn't bring my camera, because my husband still can't get used to me photographing everything that we eat. )

I made this potato salad a few weeks ago. How many of you "forget" about a recipe you've made, and then you find it in your photo archives. Please say that you do!



I was inspired to make this salad, because I had chives that were growing like gangbusters. I also had chervil that grew to bigger proportions that I imagined it could, and I've also discovered that tarragon grows like weeds! I happen to love tarragon, though some people find it over-powering.

I've made this recipe before, but this time I made a few adjustments:


I adjusted the herbs to be tarragon, chives, and chervil. While I love scallions, I also used shallots-- because I had a lot of them, and I love them. For those of you with a keen eye, I used all Yukon Gold Potatoes-- because that's what was in my fridge. You can, of course, add fresh green beans-- blanched, because I like the crunchiness of them. I think this is a very versatile recipe, as most of Ina's recipes are.

I didn't have champagne vinegar, but I think I used white wine vinegar instead. It turned out just fine-- very refreshing and a lot less fattening than potato salad with mayo.

So, here's Ina's recipe that inspired me to make this long ago.

My girlfriend, who lives in Rhode Island, says that she is enjoying a brief appearance of sunshine. I feel so blessed, to have temps in the mid-70's. I am so loving and appreciating my staycation!

I'm off to visit my regular food blogs. I want to see what y'all have been up to!